Forgotten Visions (The Divinities Book 1) (22 page)

Kalissa woke the
next morning to the smell of coffee and bacon. For a split second, she thought she was back home with Ayden. That train of thought was quickly diminished the moment she opened her eyes. She was still at Liam’s house, sleeping in his bed. Oh, gods.

She sat up, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. She looked at the door. The spell was still in place. For that she was relieved; he had left her alone. Had he been bluffing about being able to break it?

Standing, she walked to the closet that held her borrowed clothes. There was no way she was taking any of them with her when she left. She wanted nothing that reminded her of Liam.

She opened the closet with a sigh and proceeded to search for something comfortable, yet disposable.

The smell of bacon and coffee hit her nose again, and her stomach let out a roar. She sifted through the clothes until she found a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and then headed for the shower.

The shower wasn’t as long as she would have liked. The need for food overrode the need to soak in the hot sprays. She entered the kitchen, expecting to find Liam. Instead, it was empty. There was a mini buffet set up on the breakfast nook. She walked closer to the table. There was only one plate and one cup of coffee. She frowned, not knowing what to think. Yes, he’d fixed her dinner the night before, but she hadn’t had the chance to eat after his tantrum. Absently, she lifted her hand to her right upper cheekbone and temple. It didn’t hurt, but there was a bruise that—thanks to her incredible healing abilities—was already starting to fade.

She reached over, picked up a slice of bacon, and hesitantly brought it to her lips. She opened her mouth and bit down. The smoky, salty flavor almost made her moan. She should’ve never skipped out on dinner. Should have asked for something else, but that would have meant she had to apologize for being hit. Not gonna happen.

Their relationship had been aggressive. He had emotionally and mentally attacked her several times, but he’d never struck her. In the end, she would simply say she was sorry for angering him.
Gods, I was so young. And stupid.

There was a note next to the display of food that she hadn’t seen at first when arriving at the table. She narrowed her eyes at it like it would somehow jump up to bite her. Her hand hovered over it for a few hesitant seconds before she picked it up.

The food is not poisoned or spelled. Be back before noon. Stay in the house!

Short and sweet,
she thought dryly. He was such an ass.

She ate her breakfast and had two cups of coffee before starting to clean up. She finished with the dishes as a scratch at the sliding glass drew her attention. Kalissa dried her hands and moved to the door. There was a yellow tabby cat sitting on the patio outside. When it saw Kalissa, it gave a soundless meow.

Without thinking, she opened the door. The cat darted off into the middle of the yard. Kalissa stepped out onto the patio, coaxing the cat to her. The cat sat down in the grass about ten feet from her and cocked its head to the side as if studying her. Kalissa slowly walked toward the cat. Before she stepped off the patio, Liam materialized in front of her.

“What are you doing?” he asked in a demanding voice.

Kalissa took a step back from him. “Testing security?” she asked in a smart-assed tone. Ayden would have smiled at her. Not Liam. He wasn’t amused, so she explained. “There’s a kitty.” She pointed to the cat still sitting in the grass. “She looks lost and hungry.”

Liam slowly turned his head to look at the cat and then looked back to Kalissa. “I told you to stay in the house.”

Kalissa glared at him and crossed her arms over her breasts. She didn’t like his tone. “I’m not staying cooped up in that house.” She was proud of her firm resolve.

With inhuman speed, he tightly gripped her arm and pulled her back into the house, closing the door behind them with his will.

Her heart was pounding so hard it sounded like a drum inside her head as he dragged her to the office and shoved her toward the sofa. Stumbling, she fought to keep her balance and turned to look at him. His eyes were black as coal, and angry lines creased his forehead. She could almost see steam coming out of his ears. 

“Why do you do it?” His tone was laced with venom that told her to shut the fuck up. “I can’t go into work. I told you the windows and doors were spelled.”

“I forgot,” she breathed out in barely a whisper, hating her weakness. His anger pushed his power out to her in warning. Dominance rolled off him, shoving her toward submission. She tried to push back, but her magic didn’t work with him. He was blocking her somehow. Like a force field that kept her from firing back. Protecting him.

As Liam stalked to her, she felt like prey about to be swallowed by the big bad wolf. Mere inches from her, he reached out. She flinched as his fingers brushed her cheek, just under where he’d hit her last night.

His power receded, and he turned to his desk. She exhaled a breath of relief and sat down on the sofa, studying him and plotting how the hell she was going to get out of there.

A knock on the
door brought her out of a light sleep. She watched Liam get up and walk out of the study. Standing, she followed him. There was a saying about curiosity killing the cat. Well, she couldn’t help herself. It may kill her
not
to know who was on the porch.

Stopping about halfway into the foyer, she stood silently as he dropped the shields around the house and opened the door. “What the fuck do you want?” he growled at the female demon standing on the other side of the threshold. 

The demoness smiled, unfazed by his rudeness. “It is wonderful to see you too, Liam.” She pushed her way through the door and stopped cold when she saw Kalissa.

Kalissa instantly disliked her. The look the demoness shot back to her said the feeling was mutual.  Kalissa paid no attention to the new demon as she turned around and went back to the study.

The two demons came in moments later. Liam looked annoyed as he sat behind the desk. The female hopped up on the wooden surface with an amused gaze trained on Kalissa. 

After a brief moment, Kalissa asked, “Are you going to introduce me to your friend?” She could almost see smoke coming out of his ears. He didn’t like the fact that she’d referred to the demoness as his friend. Interesting.

“She’s leaving.” He gave the female a pointed look.

The demoness just waved it off and hopped off the desk, stalking over to Kalissa with her hand outstretched in greeting. “I’m Samoan,” she said sweetly.

Kalissa didn’t take her hand. Instead, she looked at her straight on and noticed that Samoan was not a full demon. She was half elf. Her black and blue hair was pulled back into a ponytail, revealing her slightly pointed ears. Her beautiful, child-like face looked like it belonged on a pixie. There was no doubt in Kalissa’s mind that Samoan used her looks and glamour to lure in her victims. What kind of victims and what Samoan did with them, Kalissa didn’t know—nor did she care at the moment. Her concern was Liam’s mood. He was already annoyed about Kalissa going outside. His temperament had darkened further with Samoan’s presence.

Samoan didn’t seem to care as she moved in a little closer to Kalissa. “She’s very pretty, Liam,” Samoan baited him. Kalissa followed Samoan with her eyes as the she-demon circled around to the back of the sofa. Samoan stopped behind Kalissa, leaned in, and inhaled deeply. “She smells nice.”

Kalissa flicked a glance at Liam. His eyes had darkened with anger. “Samoan.” It came out as a deep growl. It was a warning. From demonology classes at the coven, Kalissa knew that demons were highly territorial. Samoan was invading Liam’s territory.
She
was the territory.

Kalissa flinched when the heat of Samoan’s mouth touched her cheek. “You should let me break her for you. I’d do it for free.” Kalissa didn’t need to see Samoan’s face to know there was a smile there.

Then she was gone. Kalissa turned her head. Samoan had been thrown against the wall behind her, leaving a nice indentation of her body. Liam loomed over the other demon like a bull ready to charge. Kalissa stood up to face them. Liam’s skin took on a silvery grey appearance. He went full demon. It didn’t matter how many she had seen or fought in the past week, fear still sparked inside her.

Liam looked at Kalissa. She took a step back, gasping. Liam’s eyes were completely black. “Go upstairs, Isa,” he growled.

Kalissa swallowed her heart back down into her chest where it belonged. “Are you…going to kill her?” She wasn’t sure why she cared. She didn’t like Samoan. The bitch was evil, but she didn’t want Liam to kill her. At least, not with Kalissa in the house.

Liam stared at her in silence for several minutes before speaking. “Just do as I asked.” It was said in a lower tone as if he were trying to redirect his rage from her. Kalissa darted out of the study. But instead of going upstairs, she went to the door. Reaching out with her hand, she smiled. He didn’t replace the spell.

Freedom!

She opened the front door and stepped outside, then waited a few seconds. The sounds of breaking glass indicated that the demons were too preoccupied to notice her. She took off to the heavily wooded area adjacent to the house.  If she could make it off his property line and past the wards, she could teleport home. The mere thought of home, of Ayden and Khloe, made her cry out with glee.

Kalissa had been
gone for six hours. Ayden was a mess. After Khloe’s emotional blowup last night, he’d gone to the station to get some paperwork done, hoping that he could calm some of his anxiety. It didn’t work. He hadn’t slept at all. The only semi-rest he’d gotten was when he’d dozed off in his chair, searching public and nonpublic records for clues.

“Man, you need some sleep,” Zach said, entering Ayden’s office.

“Yeah. Easier said than done.” Ayden raked his hand through his hair. “Heard anything?”

“Nothing yet,” Zach said with a heavy sigh, sitting down in a chair across the desk from Ayden. “I just checked email.”

Ayden let out a curse. Eleese had said she would keep looking and let them know if she found out anything. He was grateful for the Elder’s help but too tired to express it.

The intercom buzzed on his desk phone. He picked up the receiver. “Yeah.”

It was the receptionist. “You have a visitor, Sheriff.”

Thank the gods. “Thanks, Amy. Send her in.” He hung up the phone before Amy could question how he knew it was a woman. His connection to Kalissa allowed him to use her seer gift. Right then, it was the only thing he clung to.

A few seconds later, Amy brought in a woman who looked to be in her early thirties. Ayden thanked Amy and asked her to shut the door to his office. Zach stood so the woman could sit down and then walked around to lean against the wall behind Ayden. Ayden had a sinking feeling. It couldn’t be good that Eleese had shown in person.

Eleese spoke in hushed tones. “I couldn’t find the words to write down.” She dropped her shoulders. Her sorrow and worry wrapped around Ayden, increasing his own. She laid a piece of paper on the desk in front of him. “She is there.” She pointed at the address written on the scrap. “The house is heavily guarded with spells and wards. You won’t be able to teleport in.”

“How do you know?” Ayden asked, picking up the note.

“I saw her.” His head snapped up, eyes meeting hers. Taking a deep breath, she continued. “My Divine gift is shapeshifting. I scrambled the house number of the original address around and searched the properties until I found one with wards.” 

“I didn’t think about that.” Damn, what was wrong with him? He was a cop. It was his job to solve crimes.

“Even if you had and went in, you would’ve alerted the demons. Like I said, the wards around the property are set to keep people out…and in,” Eleese pointed out. “I only got close enough in cat form.”

“She responded to me as I had hoped, but he showed up, angry that she had opened the door. That’s when I noticed that the house was spelled to keep her inside,” Eleese added.

Ayden cursed under his breath.
Liam is so going to pay.
“Thank you for your help. If there is anything you need…”

Eleese held up her hand to stop him. “I am behind the Divinities a hundred percent. I want the demons defeated and banned from this realm. You have my support in any way I can give it.”

Ayden stood to walk Eleese out. “We appreciate it.”

“What will you do now?” Eleese asked before Ayden opened the door.

Ayden looked her in the eyes. “I’m going to bring my magical partner home and complete the bond. No one will ever tear her away from me again.”

Eleese smiled widely. “Good.”

“Thank you again for your help.” Ayden opened the office door, and the three of them walked out to Eleese’s car.

After Eleese had driven off, Ayden said, “Let’s go get Khloe and pay the demon a visit.”

Zach looked over at his cousin. “You getting the same feeling I am?”

Ayden nodded. “There’s something not right.” Ayden could feel it. He couldn’t explain it, but he felt it. Then, there it was. A brief glimpse of a vision. It was so short-lived that it looked like someone had flashed a photograph in front of his face. It didn’t make sense to him, but he knew he needed to get to Kalissa soon.

In the vision, two people were surrounded by fire. He couldn’t make out whom they were, but his instincts told him to get Kalissa the hell out of that house. 

She stopped running
so she could catch her breath. “You should really work out more with Lo,” she uttered. Her muscles burned, and she wondered how much farther until she was off Liam’s land.

The snap of a twig jacked her heart rate up. Darting out of sight behind a fallen tree trunk, she waited, hoping it was just an animal of some kind. A small animal, not the large mean one she was running from. 

“I know you’re there, Kalissa. I can feel you.” Liam’s voice filtered through the trees and underbrush.

She gathered strength from the air around her and darted in the opposite direction. Running as fast as her legs could carry her, she prayed she’d make it to the perimeter before he caught her. She grasped on to the hope and need to see her family again.

There! About five yards ahead was the edge; she could see the transparent walls of the wards. She pushed herself forward with victory in sight. When she reached the energy wall, someone grabbed her by the waist and everything around her dissolved. 

When clarity reached her again, Liam stood in front of her. They were back in the house, standing in the living room. She wanted to cry, lash out, vent her frustrations, but most of all, she wanted Liam dead.

Never in her life had she ever wished death on anyone. Until now.

“You’ve left me no choice,” he informed her in a calm tone. “Once we are mated, you will not run again.” He glided forward.

She took a step back, then another. He moved when she did and continued to walk her backwards until her back was pressed against the wall that separated the kitchen from the living room. He pressed his body against hers, keeping her from escaping. He leaned further in to kiss her. Kalissa turned her head to avoid his lips. “I’ve missed you,” he whispered into her ear. “I should’ve done this years ago.”

“Done what?” Kalissa asked in a whisper. Something told her she wasn’t going to like the answer. 

“Mate with you.”

Yep, she was right. She didn’t like it. She pressed her hands flat against his chest and pushed, but she couldn’t move him. He pressed into her more and nuzzled her cheek with his. Panic soared through her veins. She couldn’t use her magic. She was powerless and helpless against him. “Let me go. You can’t make me mate you.” The firmness of her tone surprised her and made her proud she hadn’t lost her backbone.

He chuckled as he kissed her face down to her neck. “I can, and I will.”

A tear escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek as realization settled in. She wished she’d had more time to show Ayden how much she loved him. She wouldn’t get the chance now.

Liam pulled out a knife from his back pocket and held it in front of her face. “Through a blood bond, you will forever be mine.”

Panic and fear overtook her. She did the only thing she could in that moment. She screamed.

Ayden jerked his
Jeep into the quarter-mile-long driveway of Paul’s oversized mansion. Ayden’s anxiety spiked when he turned the corner and got a visual of the house. He could feel Kalissa’s panic stronger now that they were at the house.

He pressed hard on the brakes, making the Jeep slide on the gravel driveway in front of the door. He stepped out of the Jeep just as a scream came from inside the house.

Kalissa!

His heart stopped beating as Kalissa screamed for her life. He cursed and ran to the door. Zach and Khloe were right on his heels. He didn’t bother with the doorknob. He used his magic to blow the door off its hinges and blast through the wards. The door landed inside the entryway with a loud thud. He reached the middle of the foyer and froze.

Liam had Kalissa pressed against the wall with a knife in his hand. Ayden met Kalissa’s red, tear-filled eyes, her gaze holding a mix of fear and relief. He felt Khloe and Zach come up to stand next to him, one on each side. “It’s over, Liam. Let her go,” Ayden demanded.

Liam looked at them, took a half step away from Kalissa, and smiled. “Look, Isa. It’s a family reunion.” Liam took Kalissa by the arm and pulled her away from the wall to hold her back against his chest. He held the knife to her throat as he faced Adyen and the others. 

“You’re outnumbered,” Khloe said as she formed a fireball about ten inches in diameter in her palm.

“Think again, witch.” A female demon appeared beside Liam with four other demons that formed a semi-circle behind them.

Khloe smiled. “Ayd, I think we officially have a party.”

Samoan gave a nod, and the four demons charged at Ayden, Khloe, and Zach. Ayden stepped up to meet the first demon head-on. The demon swung at him, using magic to intensify the blow. Ayden quickly ducked and punched the demon in the stomach, putting a little of his magic behind it. The demon staggered back a few steps, shook it off, and thrust his hands outward, releasing a bolt. The ball of energy hit Ayden’s side when he twisted, trying to avoid it.

“You all right?” Zach’s voice filtered in through Ayden’s mental screams.

Nodding, he hissed out, “You?”

“Can’t shield.”

Ayden flicked Zach a concerned look. “What do you mean?”

Shaking his head, he ducked, swinging his leg up and out behind him, kicking the demon in the chest. Ayden had always been impressed with his cousin’s reflexes. “Something about the spell on the house. It weakens my magic. I can’t create energy bolts either.”

Ayden looked over at Khloe, who was toying with a demon by flicking small fireballs at him. “Why are you affected and not the rest of us?” he said, looking back at Zach.

Zach moved again, dodging another attack. This time, it was a bolt. Ayden waved his hand, forming a small shield to block it. “Not sure, but you’re not at full power either.”

“I noticed,” he said sorely, noting that his adaptability gift was a lot weaker than normal. He’d actually felt the zap from the bolt. “You think it has something to do with my and Kalissa’s bond?”

“That, and your gift.” Zach nodded to Khloe. “She seems almost completely unaffected. Could be a twin thing.”

“Stay close,” he called out to Zach and was glad when the man listened, falling back a little as another demon charged them. When the energy ball flew at them, Ayden smirked and braced himself for the impact.

The magical ball hit him square in the chest. Ayden gasped at the impact and heard Kalissa scream his name. He absorbed the power, and it ran through him with electrifying force, making him fall to his knees—though more for effect than from pain. The power of the blast filled every nook and cranny of his body until it started to build. This was when a normal person, be it human, witch, or demon, would die a horrific death. For Ayden, it was when his power of adaptability intensified the power.

Ayden looked up through the hair that had fallen in front of his face. Zach was engaged in hand-to-hand combat with another demon. Khloe was toying with two others, laughing evilly. He would have to have a talk with Kalissa about her twin later. The woman wasn’t quite right.

He reached out to Khloe and Zach. The demons could mind-link to one another, at least the ones in the room could. Ayden used that to link with Khloe and Zach. “
Get down
,” he demanded in their minds. They didn’t ask why; instead, backed off from their demons just enough. Ayden took the power that had built up inside of him and thrust it out toward the three demons. The power wave hit them with enough force to dissolve them into a pile of dust particles on the floor.